Battery cooling apparatus for vehicle and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A battery cooling apparatus for a vehicle comprises a battery mounted in a first line through which cooling air can pass and a PE device mounted in a second line through which cooling air can pass. The first line and the second line are connected in parallel as opposed to in series. With the configuration, it possible to implement the optimal cooling function.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent ApplicationNumber 10-2010-0093073 filed Sep. 27, 2010, the entire contents of whichapplication are incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a battery cooling apparatus for avehicle and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to atechnology of cooling a batter mounted in a vehicle to supplyelectricity for driving the vehicle and heating the inside of thevehicle by using heat from the cooling process.

2. Description of Related Art

Recently, vehicles have been equipped with electric motors supplying atleast a portion of driving force for the vehicles and batteries foroperating the electric motors.

The batteries generates heat in charging or discharging and a PE deviceincluding an inverter and a converter connected to the battery tocontrol electricity from/to the battery also generate heat in theoperation, and the heat from them should be removed by appropriatedevices.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional cooling apparatus for abattery 500 and a PE device 502 of a vehicle. The battery 500 and the PEdevice 502 are connected in series such that air passing through thebattery 500 from a blower 504 can be discharged outside aftersequentially cooling the PE device 502.

A valve 506 is disposed at the downstream of the PE device 502 to selectwhether to circulate the air discharged after cooling into the interiorin order to heat the interior, or to intactly discharge the air, and anelectric heater 508 is provided to ensure heating by applying additionalheat when heating the interior.

The battery cooling apparatus operating with the configuration describedabove, however, has difficulty in sufficiently satisfying appropriatecooling conditions required by the battery 500 and the PE device 502,because the battery 500 and the PE device 502 are connected in seriesand sequentially cooled. Further, harmful substances may be supplied tothe interior when a leakage is generated in the battery 500 when heatingthe interior.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section isonly for enhancement of understanding of the general background of theinvention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form ofsuggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to aperson skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a battery coolingapparatus for a vehicle comprising a battery mounted in a first linethrough which cooling air can pass and a PE device mounted in a secondline through which cooling air can pass, in which the first line and thesecond line are connected in parallel.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a batterycooling apparatus for a vehicle, which includes a battery and a PEdevice which are mounted in isolated spaces, respectively; an intakeduct provided to separately supply air from the interior of the vehicleto the battery and the PE device; a discharge duct provided to dischargethe air passing through the battery from the intake duct to the outside;a PE discharge duct discharging the air passing through the PE devicefrom the intake duct into the interior of the vehicle or the outside; afirst valve provided in the intake duct separately supplying the airfrom the interior of the vehicle to the battery and the PE device; and asecond valve provided in the PE discharge duct and adjusting the airpassing through the PE device to be discharged to the interior of thevehicle or the outside.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a control method of abattery cooling apparatus, which comprises: a second valve control stepthat determines whether to supply air cooling the PE device to theinterior or discharge the air to the outside of a vehicle, by comparingthe current interior temperature with required interior temperature andthen controls the second valve on the basis of the determination; aheating-required first valve control step that determines whether tosupply the air sucked from the interior of the vehicle only to the PEdevice, supply only to the battery, or supply to both of the PE deviceand the battery, by comparing the current PE device temperature withrequired PE device temperature and comparing the current batterytemperature with required battery temperature, if it is determined atthe second valve control step that the current interior temperature islower than the required interior temperature; and a non-heating-requiredfirst valve control step that determines whether to supply the airsucked from the interior of the vehicle only to the PE device, supplyonly to the battery, or supply to both of the PE device and the battery,by comparing the current PE device temperature with the required PEdevice temperature and comparing the current battery temperature withthe required battery temperature, if it is determined at the secondvalve control step the current interior temperature is not lower thanthe required interior temperature.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it ispossible to implement the optimal cooling function appropriate tocooling properties of each device and preclude harmful substances fromflowing into the interior due to leakage of a battery in heating theinterior, because it is possible to individually cool a battery and a PEdevice.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other featuresand advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in moredetail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, andthe following Detailed Description of the Invention, which togetherserve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a conventional block diagram of a battery cooling apparatusfor a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a battery cooling apparatus for a vehicleaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the batterycooling apparatus for a vehicle shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views of the battery cooling apparatus of FIG. 3, seenfrom other angles.

FIGS. 6 to 8 are flowcharts illustrating a control method of the batterycooling apparatus for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarilyto scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of variousfeatures illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. Thespecific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein,including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations,and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intendedapplication and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent partsof the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) willbe described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will beunderstood that present description is not intended to limit theinvention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, theinvention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplaryembodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalentsand other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by the appended claims.

A battery cooling apparatus for a vehicle according to an embodiment ofthe present invention is described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. Theapparatus includes a battery 1, a PE device 3, an intake duct 5, adischarge duct 7, a PE discharge duct 9, a first valve 11, and a secondvalve 13. The battery 1 and PE device 3 are equipped in isolated spaces,respectively. The intake duct 5 is provided to separately supply airfrom the interior of the vehicle to the battery 1 and the PE device 3.The discharge duct 7 is provided to discharge the air passing throughthe battery 1 from the intake duct 5 to the outside. The PE dischargeduct 9 discharges the air passing through the PE device 3 from theintake duct 5 into the interior of the vehicle or the outside. The firstvalve 11 is provided in the intake duct 5 for separately supplying theair from the interior of the vehicle to the battery 1 and the PE device3. The second valve 13 is provided in the PE discharge duct 9 foradjusting the air passing through the PE device 3 to be discharged tothe interior of the vehicle or the outside.

That is, the air for cooling the battery 1 and the air for cooling thePE device 3 are separately supplied to cool the battery 1 and the PEdevice 3 and the interior is heated only by the air cooing the PE device3, such that it is possible to structurally prevent harmful substancesfrom flowing into the interior due to leakage of the battery 1.

A blower 15 is disposed in the intake duct 5 to suck the air from theinterior of the vehicle and send the air to the battery 1 and the PEdevice 3. The first valve 11 is disposed at the downstream of the blower15 and the intake duct 5 is divided into a battery supply duct 17supplying air to the battery 1 and a PE supply duct 19 supplying air tothe PE device 3, at the position where the first valve 11 is disposed.

The PE discharge duct 9 is divided into an interior heating duct 21supplying air to the interior of the vehicle and an external connectingduct 23 connected to the discharge duct 7 to discharge the air to theoutside, at the position where the second valve 13 is disposed.

Therefore, the air discharged through the interior heating duct 21contributes to heating the interior and the air sent to the externalconnecting duct 23 is discharged to the outside through the dischargeduct 7.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, an electric heater 25 forheating the air is further disposed at the downstream of the secondvalve 13 in the interior heating duct 21. The electric heater 25 canallow the air discharged after cooling the PE device 3 to beadditionally heated and then discharged to the interior, when thetemperature of the air is not enough to heat the interior.

A control method of the battery cooling apparatus described above isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. The method includes a secondvalve control step (S100), a heating-required first valve control step(S200), and a non-heating-required first valve control step (S300).

The second valve control step comprises determining whether to supplyair for cooling the PE device 3 to the interior or discharge the air tothe outside of a vehicle by comparing the current interior temperatureT_(CABIN) with required interior temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN) andcontrolling the second valve 13 on the basis of the determination.

The heating-required first valve control step comprises, if it isdetermined at the second valve control step that the current interiortemperature T_(CABIN) is lower than the required interior temperatureT_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN), determining whether to supply the air sucked fromthe interior of the vehicle only to the PE device 3, supply only to thebattery 1, or supply to both of the PE device 3 and the battery 1 bycomparing current PE device temperature T_(PE) with required PE devicetemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and comparing current battery temperatureT_(BAT) with required battery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT).

The non-heating-required first valve control step comprises, if it isdetermined at the second valve control step that the current interiortemperature T_(CABIN) is not lower than the required interiortemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN), determining whether to supply the airsucked from the interior of the vehicle only to the PE device 3, supplyonly to the battery 1, or supply to both of the PE device 3 and thebattery 1 by comparing current PE device temperature T_(PE) withrequired PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and comparing currentbattery temperature T_(BAT) with required battery temperature T_(REQ)_(—) _(BAT).

In more detail, the second valve control step (S100) determines whetherto supply the air passing through the PE device 3 to the interiorthrough the interior heating duct 21 or discharge the air to the outsidethrough the external connecting duct 23 and the discharge duct 7 bycomparing the current interior temperature T_(CABIN) with requiredinterior temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN) and by controlling the secondcontrol valve 13 in accordance with whether the vehicle requiresheating. The heating-required first valve control step (S200) and thenon-heating-required first valve control step (S300) allow the firstvalve 11 to appropriately distribute the air from the intake duct 5 tothe battery supply duct 17 and the PE supply duct 19 by comparing thecurrent PE device temperature T_(PE) with required PE device temperatureT_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and comparing current battery temperature T_(BAT)with required battery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT). Control isperformed to determine whether to operate the blower 15 in theheating-required first valve control step (S200) and thenon-heating-required first valve control step (S300).

At the second valve control step (S100), if it is determined that thecurrent interior temperature T_(CABIN) is lower than the requiredinterior temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN), the air that has cooled thePE device 3 is supplied for heating into the interior heating duct 21 bycontrolling the second valve 13. On the other hand, if it is determinedthat the current interior temperature T_(CABIN) is not lower than therequired interior temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(CABIN), the air that hascooled the PE device 3 is supplied to the external connecting duct 23.

At the heating-required first valve control step (S200), if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is higher thanthe required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and the currentbattery temperature T_(BAT) is higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is operated and the firstvalve 11 is controlled to send air to both of the battery supply duct 17and the PE supply duct 19, such that both of the battery 1 and the PEdevice 3 are cooled and the air that has cooled the battery 1 isdischarged outside through the discharge duct 7 while the air that hascooled the PE device 3 is discharged to the interior through theinterior heating duct 21 to contribute to heating. On the other hand, ifit is determined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is higherthan the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and thecurrent battery temperature T_(BAT) is not higher than the requiredbattery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is operated andthe first valve 11 is controlled to send air only to the PE supply duct19, such that only the PE device 3 is cooled and the air is supplied tothe interior for heating.

If it is determined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is nothigher than the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE), thecurrent battery temperature T_(BAT) is higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), and the current PE device temperatureT_(PE) is higher than the current interior temperature T_(CABIN), theblower 15 is operated and the first valve 11 is controlled to send airto both of the battery supply duct 17 and the PE supply duct 19, suchthat the battery 1 is cooled and the air passing through the PE device 3is supplied to the interior for heating. On the other hand, if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is not higherthan the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE), the currentbattery temperature T_(BAT) is higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), and the current PE device temperatureT_(PE) is not higher than the current interior temperature T_(CABIN),the blower 15 is operated and the first valve 11 is controlled to sendair only to the battery supply duct 17, such that only the battery 1 iscooled.

If it is determined that that the current PE device temperature T_(PE)is not higher than the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—)_(PE), the current battery temperature T_(BAT) is not higher than therequired battery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), and the current PEdevice temperature T_(PE) is higher than the current interiortemperature T_(CABIN), the blower 15 is operated and the first valve 11is controlled to send air only to the PE supply duct 19, such that theair passing through the PE device 3 is used to heat the interior. On theother hand, if it is determined that the current PE device temperatureT_(PE) is not higher than the required PE device temperature T_(REQ)_(—) _(PE), the current battery temperature T_(BAT) is not higher thanthe required battery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), and the current PEdevice temperature T_(PE) is not higher than the current interiortemperature T_(CABIN), the blower 15 is stopped.

At the non-heating-required first valve control step (S300), if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is higher thanthe required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and the currentbattery temperature T_(BAT) is higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is operated and the firstvalve 11 is controlled to send air to both of the battery supply duct 17and the PE supply duct 19, such that both of the battery 1 and the PEdevice 3 are cooled, and the air that has cooled the battery 1 and thePE device 3 is discharged outside. On the other hand, if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is higher thanthe required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and the currentbattery temperature T_(BAT) is not higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is operated and the firstvalve 11 is controlled to send air only to the PE supply duct 19, suchthat only the PE device 3 is cooled and the air that has cooled the PEdevice is discharged outside sequentially through the externalconnecting duct 23 and the discharge duct 7. On the other hand, if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature T_(PE) is not higherthan the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) and thecurrent battery temperature T_(BAT) is higher than the required batterytemperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is operated and the firstvalve 11 is controlled to send air only to the battery supply duct 17,such that only the battery 1 is cooled and the air that has cooled thebattery is discharged outside through the discharge duct 7. On the otherhand, if it is determined that the PE current temperature T_(PE) is nothigher than the required PE device temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(PE) andthe current battery temperature T_(BAT) is not higher than the requiredbattery temperature T_(REQ) _(—) _(BAT), the blower 15 is stopped.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in orderto explain certain principles of the invention and their practicalapplication, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make andutilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as wellas various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended thatthe scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto andtheir equivalents.

1. A battery cooling apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a battery and aPE device which are mounted in separate spaces, respectively; an intakeduct provided to separately supply air from the interior of the vehicleto the battery and the PE device; a discharge duct provided to dischargethe air passing through the battery from the intake duct to the outside;a PE discharge duct discharging the air passing through the PE devicefrom the intake duct into the interior of the vehicle or the outside; afirst valve provided in the intake duct separately supplying the airfrom the interior of the vehicle to the battery and the PE device; and asecond valve provided in the PE discharge duct and adjusting the airpassing through the PE device to be discharged to the interior of thevehicle or the outside.
 2. The battery cooling apparatus for a vehicleas defined in claim 1, wherein a blower is disposed in the intake ductto suck the air from the interior of the vehicle and send the air to thebattery and the PE device, the first valve is disposed at the downstreamof the blower, and the intake duct is divided into a battery supply ductsupplying air to the battery and a PE supply duct supplying air to thePE device, at the position where the first valve is disposed.
 3. Thebattery cooling apparatus for a vehicle as defined in claim 2, whereinthe PE discharge duct is divided into an interior heating duct supplyingair to the interior of the vehicle and an external connecting ductconnected to the discharge duct to discharge the air to the outside, atthe position where the second valve is disposed.
 4. The battery coolingapparatus for a vehicle as defined in claim 3, wherein an electricheater heating the air is further disposed at the downstream of thesecond valve, in the interior heating duct.
 5. A control method of thebattery cooling apparatus defined in claim 2, comprising: a second valvecontrol step that determines whether to supply air cooling the PE deviceto the interior or discharge the air to the outside of a vehicle, bycomparing the current interior temperature with required interiortemperature and then controls the second valve on the basis of thedetermination; a heating-required first valve control step thatdetermines whether to supply the air sucked from the interior of thevehicle only to the PE device, supply only to the battery, or supply toboth of the PE device and the battery, by comparing the current PEdevice temperature with required PE device temperature and comparing thecurrent battery temperature with required battery temperature, if it isdetermined at the second valve control step that the current interiortemperature is lower than the required interior temperature; and anon-heating-required first valve control step that determines whether tosupply the air sucked from the interior of the vehicle only to the PEdevice, supply only to the battery, or supply to both of the PE deviceand the battery, by comparing the current PE device temperature with therequired PE device temperature and comparing the current batterytemperature with the required battery temperature, if it is determinedat the second valve control step the current interior temperature is notlower than the required interior temperature.
 6. The control method asdefined in claim 5, wherein control is performed to determine whether tooperate the blower in the heating-required first valve control step andthe non-heating-required first valve control step.
 7. The control methodas defined in claim 6, wherein if it is determined at the second valvecontrol step that the current interior temperature is lower than therequired interior temperature, the air that has cooled the PE device issupplied for heating into the interior heating duct by controlling thesecond valve, and if it is determined at the second valve control stepthat the current interior temperature is not lower than the requiredinterior temperature, the air that has cooled the PE device supplied tothe external connecting duct.
 8. The control method as defined in claim7, wherein if it is determined at the heating-required first valvecontrol step that the current PE device temperature is higher than therequired PE device temperature and the current battery temperature ishigher than the required battery temperature, the blower is operated andthe first valve is controlled to send air to both of the battery supplyduct and the PE supply duct, if it is determined that the current PEdevice temperature is higher than the required PE device temperature andthe current battery temperature is not higher than the required batterytemperature, the blower is operated and the first valve is controlled tosend air only to the PE supply duct, if it is determined that thecurrent PE device temperature is not higher than the required PE devicetemperature, the current battery temperature is higher than the requiredbattery temperature, and the current PE device temperature is higherthan the current interior temperature, the blower is operated and thefirst valve is controlled to send air to both of the battery supply ductand the PE supply duct, and if it is determined that the current PEdevice temperature is not higher than the required PE devicetemperature, the current battery temperature is higher than the requiredbattery temperature, and the current PE device temperature is not higherthan the current interior temperature, the blower is operated and thefirst valve is controlled to send air only to battery supply duct. 9.The control method as defined in claim 8, wherein if it is determinedthat the current PE device temperature is not higher than the requiredPE device temperature, the current battery temperature is not higherthan the required battery temperature, and the current PE devicetemperature is higher than the current interior temperature, the bloweris operated and the first valve is controlled to send air only to the PEsupply duct, and if it is determined that the PE current temperature isnot higher than the required PE device temperature, the current batterytemperature is not higher than the required battery temperature, and thecurrent PE device temperature is not higher than the current interiortemperature, the blower is stopped.
 10. The control method as defined inclaim 7, wherein if it is determined that at the non-heating-requiredfirst valve control step that the current PE device temperature ishigher than the required PE device temperature and the current batterytemperature is higher than the required battery temperature, the bloweris operated and the first valve is controlled to send air to both of thebattery supply duct and the PE supply duct, if it is determined that thecurrent PE device temperature is higher than the required PE devicetemperature and the current battery temperature is not higher than therequired battery temperature, the blower is operated and the first valveis controlled to send air only to the PE supply duct, if it isdetermined that the current PE device temperature is not higher than therequired PE device temperature and the current battery temperature ishigher than the required battery temperature, the blower is operated andthe first valve is controlled to send air only to the battery supplyduct, and if it is determined that the PE current temperature is nothigher than the required PE device temperature and the current batterytemperature is not higher than the required battery temperature, theblower is stopped.
 11. A battery cooling apparatus for a vehiclecomprising: a battery mounted in a first line through which cooling aircan pass; and a PE device mounted in a second line through which coolingair can pass, wherein the first line and the second line are connectedin parallel.